Rubicund

Absolutely correct Heimdall, the clue is in the title. It's not just posh hotels that don't include breakfast, most don't. Premier Inns and Travelodges don't include breakfast.

MsWorthy

@ casperjj, and also we have not paid for the cab fares when we arrive in LIS to hotel, ORLY to hotel, FCO to hotel, ATH to Hotel..

but we have paid for the Stansted Express from STN to Tottenham Hale.

thursdaysd

You guys are staying in the wrong places. I have yet to stay anywhere in England and not get breakfast included. France, now, is another matter.

thursdaysd

If you are on a budget, why are you taking cabs from airports? There is a perfectly good bus into town from Lisbon airport, or you could take the metro. Athens, you can take the metro. I believe there is a train in from FCO, don't remember what you would use from Orly.

If you look for the airport web sites they should all have info on access by public transport, or you could ask here. (This is Europe we're talking about, not the US....)

mariha2912

There is PER from Orly to down town Paris I believe : )


I may be wrong but I remember OP's posts a few months ago about using a travel agent to book most of this trip, I think hotels too?
My impresssion is that most travel agents book a room with breakfast unless you require otherwise, but I might be completely wrong.
Anyway, maybe Ms Worthy could clarify on this, because it makes some difference on their budget and anyway saves us the effort to compose posts such as mine, based on assumptions rather than facts.

Tulips

MsWorthy, if you're on a budget there are plenty of places in London that are free; British Museum, National Gallery, V&A etc. I think Buckingham Palace is only open in summer.

Have a look at pre-theatre menus in restaurants, usually pretty cheap. Brasserie Zedel does a 2-course menu for 8.75 pounds. Add service and drinks to this; but that is still cheap, for a lovely restaurant. Get lunch at pret-a-manger, Eat and places like that for less than 10 pounds.

apersuader65

Msworthy, my original numbers for each meal were as an example, 40-25-18. Clearly, breakfast for many will consist of a coffee/juice and a danish or fruit and cost under 5. I would suggest that you concentrate your "big" meal planning on lunch, and not dinner. You'll get the better deal as lunch prices are cheaper than dinner, so a splurge on something that is 30% less to start off is a real saver. Then eating the street food as a evening meal will really save money. You can then plan on other fees being affordable. Our upcoming trip to Paris for 9 days is with a $1500.00 budget for food and ground transport. Separate amount will be for the ballet, Giverny day trip and other museums. Wife's shopping is also another budget line. We've determined that our habits are such that 150 Dollars per day is sufficient for all our meals and public transport. With the current state of the dollar to the euro, we may have room for a significant splurge on a meal, as I've made my estimates on a $1.30 to one Euro exchange. With a current exchange rate at just under $1.13, that's about a 200 euro difference.

I would also suggest that you use public transport as much as possible, especially since you've indicated you're traveling with only carry on luggage, and you'll find it to be significantly cheaper, and you'll get a better feel of each city that way.

MsWorthy

Thank you so much for all your help, for all the tips. I really appreciate all the input. Hoping we will have an amazing trip that I can share to the group.

The CAD TO EURO conversion is stressing me at the moment. $1 is .66euro arrghhh pretty

Robert2533

There has been a lot of fluctuation in the CAD/EURO over the last 9 months, but the CAD is up about 10% against the Euro, which should make you feel pretty good, although the CAD was much stronger during the summer of 2012 when it was $1.22CAD to the Euro, instead of the current $1.44CAD to the Euro.

The USD is up around 23% against the Euro in that same period, the best it's been in more than 11 years.

Luv2travel15

You could take some free walking tours in several of the countries you will be visiting.

http://www.neweuropetours.eu

You will be walking A LOT so could download some audio guides.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Content/...king-Tours/184

Here's a nice one for you:

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/blog/...europe-cities/

How about some bike tours if you like this type of activity?

we do the hop on/off busses in cities and that is a very inexpensive way to see that city.

Eating - can be as expensive as you want. If you get breakfast at your hotel, perhaps buy a slice of Pizza (Rome), get a sandwich and split it for lunch (my DH & I do this as we can't always eat a big sandwich for lunch).

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2010...-florence.html

Hope this helps. You will have a great trip no matter what!

thursdaysd

"we do the hop on/off busses in cities and that is a very inexpensive way to see that city."

That's usually an <i>expensive</i> way to see a city. You're much better off getting a day/multiday transport pass and using regular buses. Also less frustrating, I've read too many reports of people waiting a long time for the next hop-on bus with space enough for them to hop on.

Tulips

Luv2travel, The HOHO bus costs 25 pounds or more a day.
The daily price cap on an Oyster card for zone 1 and 2 is 6.40. You will never pay more than that, even if you spend all day on bus and tube in zone 1 and 2.
You can get on and off any bus you like. There are some routes in London that take you past many sites.

I can't understand why all these tourists use those things. And then they complain about London being expensive.

thursdaysd

It used to be that the London bus system was an arcane mystery even for locals, but that is so not true these days. If you use tfl.gov.uk you'll find not just a journey planner but a very good bus map for Central London. Bus stops all have handy maps of where buses that stop there will go, and most have electronic arrivals boards. Paris' RATP site is similarly helpful.

carolyn

The advantage to the hop on/hop off buses is that you are told what you are seeing as you ride by. On a first trip, it is hard to recognize anything except the biggest icons; and you don't have to try to figure out where they are. After riding the HOHO bus without getting off, you can be more comfortable with grouping things and going back to see what you are most interested in.

I agree that it is expensive, but it does give a feeling for the city for those who are perhaps less adventurous than others.

thursdaysd

Come on, a reasonable amount of advance planning, with guidebook(s) and maps, works much better. If you don't know what you're interested in before you get there, I doubt the HOHO will help much.

travelerjan

I agree that sometimes a HOHO bus is NOT efficient or good -- ATHENS is a perfect example; most of the "sights" are clustered close, many on no-cars lanes! The ATH Ho-Ho bus spend most of its time in traffic-choked main streets, far from sight. However, in a city where major sight are spread out, it can be, as carolyn says, an wonderful orientation.

I saw this myself. I'd been to London several times before but was taking a relative for her long-awaited first trip. Arriving at Victoria station, we checked bags & boarded the Original London SS tour (dble-decker), GUIDE on board, not audio narration (many london bus guides are superb much better than NYC). We did NOT hop off, did whole thing at one go, it was fab 3-hr "drive-by"that covered MILES of territory, super help for orienting my relative, for our personal sightseeing. A great link comparing the 3 london tours for routes & Prices: http://www.londontoolkit.com/blog/da...tseeing-buses/

Christina

i like HOHO buses, but not as a great way to get around too much (although in Barcelona, they aren't bad for that in some areas that are farther out, and they are great in Mexico City as they go even into the suburbs) -- I just enjoy them as a way to see the city while relaxing, and I really like the perspective you get from high up. You can't see the city that way when walking around or taking buses/metro. So I just enjoy them for the excursion, but not as a tool to find out what I want to see (I do that on my own, in fact, you usually pick the routes to include some places you want to go), and as a pleasant excursion, that's all. I don't use them for the narration and rarely listen to it, although some of it was interesting in Mexico.

thursdaysd

"perspective you get from high up."

Precisely why I sit upstairs at the front on London buses. Inside, out of the weather.

janisj

The main problem w/ the H-o-H-o here is simple practicality - they are expensive . . . MsWorthy is a budget traveler.

sure/maybe take a H-o-H-o on your first day - if one has lots of time and lots of money . . . .

travelerjan

janisj, I'm a budget traveler myself ... the link I provided for London tells exactly what costs are for its 3 HOHOs AND how to get promotional discounts that can cut the price in half ...